Lightning hurts football players, coaches

[TexasStooge]

GRAPELAND, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) - Lightning struck a high school football team that was finishing up practice, leaving at least one player badly injured and others hospitalized.

About 40 players and coaches with the Grapeland High School football team in East Texas were injured when strike occurred Tuesday evening, authorities said.

Superintendent Buddy Sumrall told The Associated Press early Wednesday that one of the players was in guarded condition after being taken to a burn center in Galveston. Nineteen others were spending the night in hospitals, under observation.

"It was just a freak thing," Sumrall said. "It started raining, and they were getting ready to go in. They hadn't even seen any lightning, and one bolt hit the field."

Assistant football coach Jerry Richards told the Tyler Morning Telegraph about 40 players were running sprints in a group when the bolt struck one player in the middle of the pack and others hit the ground.

"It staggered everybody," he said. "The force of it either knocked you down or knocked you backward several feet."

Sumrall lauded coaches' handling of the situation. School was scheduled to be in session as usual on Wednesday, with counselors on hand to speak with students, if needed.

The superintendent said no decision had been made on this week's game.

"That's the least of our worries right now," he said. "All our concern is with the kids."

Grapeland is about 120 miles southeast of Dallas.